Chemical force microscopy study of adhesive properties of polypropylene films: influence of surface polarity and medium

The adhesive properties of untreated and corona treated polypropylene (PP) films were studied in polar (water) and nonpolar (hexadecane) liquid medium by using chemical force microscopy. A gold-coated colloidal probe was sequentially modified with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of omega-functionalized alkanethiols. The same colloidal probe was used for the force measurements, to avoid influence of determination accuracy of the spring constant and sphere radius on the obtained results. The thermodynamic work of adhesion was determined from the measured pull-off force using the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) adhesion theory. Rabinovich's model was applied for the consideration of an effect of roughness when calculating the work of adhesion. It was found that the work of adhesion correlates with the hydrophilic properties of the PP surface and SAMs as well as with the polarity of the liquid medium. The observed correlations agree well with those found for the work of adhesion calculated from contact angle measurement.     

Synthese und struktur von dicyclopentadienyl(trimethylsilyl)titanchlorid

Dicyclopentadienyl(trimethylsilyl)titanium chloride, a stable trimethylsilyltitanium compound, is synthesized by reaction of dicyclopentadienyltitanium dichloride and tris(trimethylsilyl)aluminium, coordinated with diethyl ether, or lithium tetarakis(trimethylsilyl)aluminate. The IR and NMR spectra are reported. The crystal structure of the title compound has been determined. It shows a distorted tetrahedral surrounding of the titanium atom; the Ti–Si distance is 267 pm.     

Pragmatic Studies on Protein-Resistant Self-Assembled Monolayers

Summary. The present study describes new synthetic routes to oligo(ethylene glycol)-terminated alkanethiols (OEG-ATs), starting from α,ω-dibromoalkanes, which are reacted either with OEG or with trityl mercaptan in the first step. In addition to these ether conjugates of OEG and AT, analogous ester and amide conjugates were prepared by established procedures. All thiols were used to form self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on cleaned gold surfaces and these were stored for 1–2 weeks under water at 4°C before the extent of nonspecific protein adsorption was tested with IgG, BSA, and lysozyme at 1 mg cm⁻³ protein concentration in phosphate-buffered saline. Under these practice-oriented testing conditions, SAMs with tri(ethylene glycol) chains (EG ₃) exhibited nonsatisfactory protein resistance, in sharp contrast to EG ₄ or longer OEG chains. The effectiveness of EG ₃ was partially restored when they were linked to a long acyl chain (16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid) instead of 12-mercaptododecane or 11-mercaptoundecane. Furthermore it was found that (i) SAM formation at 20 μM thiol versus 500 μM OEG-AT gave identical results, (ii) gel-filtered proteins were much less adsorbed than the unpurified commercial products, and (iii) the method for gold-precleaning was very critical. In conclusion, this study offers convenient synthetic routes to OEG-AT and helps to choose molecules and procedures for reliable preparation of protein-resitant SAMs with prolonged stability during storage.     

Synthesis of flavone-3-sulfonylureas

The synthesis of new flavone-3-sulfonylurea derivatives is hereby described. The influence of a phenyl group in the 2-position and an acetate group in the 8-position at the chromone nucleus on the activity was studied. Only weak cytostatic activity of the new compounds was found.     

Beiträge zur Chemie der Pyrrolpigmente, 79. Mitt. Zum strukturellen Einfluß stark raumerfüllender Reste bei 10-substituierten 1,19-Bilindionen

Summary 1,19-Bilindiones bearing a phenanthryl, mesityl,tert-butyl, and isopropyl substituent at the C-10 position were synthesized. Conformational analysis using¹³C- and¹H-NMR spectroscopic techniques and absorption spectroscopy together with semiempirical calculations revealed that the aryl derivatives adopt the common circular helical geometry, whereas thetert-butyl derivative is heavily distorted. The mean planes of the two dipyrrinone moieties are orthogonally positioned to each other. The 10-isopropyl-bilindione tautomerizes to the 10-isopropyliden-biladiene-ac.

     

Zinc hydrazides and alkoxyhydrazides: organometallic compounds with novel Zn4N8, Zn4N6O and Zn4N4O2 cage structures

Tetrameric [{RZn(NHNMe2)}4] (R = Me, Et), the first organometallic zinc hydrazides to be described, have been prepared by alkane elimination from dialkylzinc solutions and N,N-dimethylhydrazine. They were characterised by 1H and 13C NMR and IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis and X-ray crystallography. The compounds form asymmetric aggregates containing the novel Zn4N8 core; tetrahedra of Zn atoms bear the alkyl groups at Zn, with the triangular faces bridged by NHNMe2 substituents. The NH groups are connected to two Zn atoms, and the NMe2 groups to one. Hydrolysis of the compounds with water gives [(RZn)4(OH)(NHNMe2)3] as products, which also were characterised as described above. Higher yields of these hydroxo clusters were achieved in one-pot syntheses by reaction of dialkylzinc solutions with mixtures of N,N-dimethylhydrazine and water. They contain Zn4N6O cages, in which one hydroxide in the tetrameric hydrazides described above replaces one NHNMe2 group. Similar products can be prepared with alkoxy instead of hydroxy groups, in analogous one-pot syntheses with alcohols. Alcoholysis of [EtZn(NHNMe2)]4 with methanol or ethanol gave zinc trishydrazide monoalkoxides, [(EtZn)4(OR)(NHNMe2)3] (R = Me, Et), which have constitutions analogous to the monohydroxides. The organozinc bishydrazide bisalkoxides [(MeZn)4(NHNMe2)2(OEt)2] and [(EtZn)4(NHNMe2)2(OEt)2] were obtained in one-pot reactions from dialkylzinc solutions with mixtures of the hydrazine and alcohol, and their crystal structures, confirmed by spectroscopic methods in solution, show an unsymmetrical aggregation with the novel Zn4N4O2 cage structure.     

Beiträge zur Chemie der Pyrrolpigmente, 41. Mitt.: Kraftfeldrechnungen an Gallenfarbstoffen: Die Energiehyperfläche verdinoider Pigmente

Using a force field previously described, the energy hypersurface around the global energy minimum of the (Z,Z,Z)-Octamethylbilatriene-abc1 was investigated with respect to the torsion angles at positions 5, 9 and 14 yielding informations on the geometry of the global minimum and the transition paths between enantiomeric conformers. The geometry of the most stable conformations were calculated for the diastereomers of1 as well as for the peripherally unsubstituted3 and the N-methylated derivatives4, 5 and6. The conformational behaviour and the relative stabilities of the diastereomers turned out to be dominated by the influence of the peripheral substitution (alkylgroup backbone). The results are in good agreement with earlier experimental results.

40. Mitt.:Falk, H., Schlederer, T., Mh. Chem.112, 501 (1981).     

Beiträge zur Chemie der Pyrrolpigmente, 48. Mitt.

2,3-Dihydrobilatrienes-abc substituted analogous to the natural chromophor of phytochrome may exhibit diastereomerism at the exocyclic double bond of the unsaturated lactam ring. Their properties are comparable to the previouslystudied bilatriene-abc diastereomers. At the exocyclic double bond of the saturated lactam ring however, diastereomers could only be prepared for thermodynamic reasons. The spectroscopic properties of the various diastereomers of five compounds were recorded and are discussed with respect to their utility in structural studies of the natural pigment system.     

Direct measurement of lipid-soluble arsenic species in biological samples with HPLC-ICPMS

Lipid-soluble arsenicals (arsenolipids) occur in a wide range of biological samples where they may play a key role in the biosynthesis of organoarsenic compounds from inorganic arsenic. The study of these compounds has been hindered, however, by the lack of a suitable analytical technique able to separate and measure the various lipid species. As a source of arsenolipids, we used 10 crude fish oils from various regions of the world. Total arsenic analyses on the fish oils, performed with ICPMS following acid digestion with microwave-assisted heating, gave concentrations from 4.3 to 10.5 mg As kg(-1). All of the arsenic was soluble in non-polar solvents such as hexane. Analysis of the fish oils for arsenolipids was performed by normal phase HPLC-ICPMS with various mixtures of organic solvents as mobile phases. Inherent problems of instability associated with the introduction of organic solvents to the plasma were overcome by the use of reduced column flow, a chilled spray chamber, and the addition of oxygen directly to the plasma. All ten fish oils appeared to contain the same 4-6 major arsenolipids, but in varying amounts depending on the origin of the fish. Further chromatography with both normal phase and reversed-phase conditions on some of the oils indicated the presence of many more minor arsenolipids. Quantification was achieved by external calibration against triphenylarsine oxide or triphenylarsine sulfide, and the sum of species following HPLC of the oils matched well the total arsenic results (92-107%). The method was applied to samples of food supplements (fish oil capsules) and a packaged food product (cod liver) whereby arsenolipids were measured and found to be significant arsenic constituents. This study represents the first attempt to directly measure intact arsenolipids and, with appropriate sample preparation, may be suitable for quantitative measurement of these arsenicals in a range of biological samples, including foodstuffs.     

Gold nanoparticle decoration of DNA on silicon

Electrostatic assembly of cationic nanoparticles onto the negatively charged backbone of double-stranded DNA has been shown to produce one-dimensional chains with potential use as nanoelectronic components. In this paper, micron long DNA templates stretched on aminosilane- and hexamethyldisilazane-modified silicon surfaces are used to assemble 3.5 nm gold nanoparticles passivated with cationic thiocholine. Atomic force microscopy is used to analyze the density and defects along the approximately 5 nm high structures, with comparison between positively charged and neutral surfaces. Low background adsorption of nanoparticles is facilitated by both these surface chemistries, while the neutral surface yields a more densely packed assembly.